Hey just to let you know..vitamin d isn't like...something you can get dependent on or "stop working". your body needs it sort of in the same way it needs air and water, just not to the same extreme. It actually does function like a hormone though, which is part of why it is important. Getting a blood test @ the doctor might help alleviate some of your anxieties, you can get your vitamin d levels checked and if you're low, that's prolly not helping your mood. and also there are many other important health indicators they can check, including hormone levels. Also vitamin d has nothing to do with getting pregnant, except for the fact that it would logically be better to have adequate levels of vitamin d when you get pregnant for overall health. just like it would be beneficial to be adequately hydrated throughout a pregnancy. you can take vitamin d supplements, which I do, but sun is probably superior in a lot of ways as long as you don't stay out too long and get a burn. i think half hour direct sunlight everyday is "recommended".

I got really upset when I was having pcos symptoms, acne and lack of period, but it's really nothing to be super upset about. as far as body disturbances go, it's very low on the list of traumatizing things. of course if you've had heavy symptoms for a long time, that will be a little harder to treat, but if this is a more recent thing, you can get control over it easily. have you seen a doctor recently?

I second everything the above poster said about diet. It's all about complex carbs, lots of vegetables, and whatever sources of protein you like. and fiber. and not having massive anxiety around food or isolating yourself because of it (aka cutting out a whole bunch of stuff). you're already at a low weight, so restricting carbs is really hard. i'm 5'8, 132 lbs and I felt so horrible trying to cut out all carbs (including fruit) awful awful awful.

Birth control was a great, "easy" fix for me...I felt life was too short to spend the next x number of years trying to balance my hormones with a naturopath charging me a shitload of money for herbs. my family was looking at me like wtf and they are very progressive and liberal. not saying theres ANYTHING wrong this alternative treatments, just explaining. for me, birth control (ortho tri cyclen lo) cut sugar cravings by a lot (pcos symptom), gave me more energy, made me feel like "myself", basically made me stop feeling like shit. this helped propel my health in new directions once I had the energy and normalcy to function optimally. but yeah, some ppl hate birth control or don't believe in its uses, so follow your heart

Thank you for your reply--I know I got really defensive, the internet is a good place to vent . It's just hard cuz I really tried to go the natural route, but I just felt worse and worse. However, agreed that conventional medicine can have great downfalls. there is a documentary called Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead where it shows men taking like 15 medications a day given by doctors because of late onset diabetes and so many other health problems basically caused by diet & lifestyle alone. medications on top of medications, medications to mediate the side effects of other meds.

Interesting to me that you say you've been clear in dark times and had acne in great times. My life is like the exact opposite, but I really appreciate this alternate viewpoint because more knowledge is always better. never in a time of peace and emotional well being have I really had acne at all. but I got it a little, when I was stressed as a teen, and that's it, and then more recently when things have been crazy I actually developed acne (and ezcema). I guess I would say its highly correlated with anxiety for me, but not necessarily sadness or depression.

I would like to eventually go off conventional meds but from where I was at, they were a great help. I think its all about steps to get to where you want to be. Like changing your diet, it can't exactly happen all over night. taking steps to being healthier and healthier feels empowering to me and hopefully I won't need birth control in the future if I choose to go off it. I would also like to be off antidepressants but that has proved harder as anxiety and depression I had after stopping was worse than before I started them. which shows that they can be problematic but not taking them was..worse.

Hearts, what are your favorite natural routes or remedies that you have done?

okay first of all....none of these things are permanent. And it may sound like "a lot", but compared to the amount of medication circulating in our society and the pain of not facing your problems, it is not. I think to live depressed, anxious and isolated everyday is more extreme than accepting help from a doctor . taking some steps to help myself is the most natural thing of all, obsessing over "curing your problems naturally" I think is an unnatural and inorganic issue. Furthermore, your hormones got messed up because of emotional issues like anger, anxiety, turmoil and depression. If you are well and free, your hormones will operate appropriately. I went on and off birth control for years with zero issue, because I was not struggling emotionally. Birth control (while there ARE some bad ones out there) is not the enemy, in fact taking massive quantities of herbs to fix your hormones, which many ppl do, is just as extreme and potentially more so than taking a low dose birth control...and makes you just as "dependent".

The only reason I would introduce the subject of something that helps your mood is when someone is struggling with anxiety, depression, feeling like they maybe don't even want to live, AND struggling with health problems that result from those very emotional issues. and even after all that said, I by no means believe that what is right for me is right for you, but please don't judge or think less of what i'm doing simply because you would rather not do so. Trust me, MANY ppl on here tried to cure their acne "naturally". I spent around $500 on herbs and stuff from a naturopath; after going to my wonderful and intelligent doctor from my teenage years, I spent $20 on stuff she prescribed that actually helped. Oh and NOTHING a naturopath prescribed helped, and she suggested I eliminate most food from my diet and have 3/4 of every meal be vegetables. I am already thin, and this just led me to be isolated from my friends and family and anxious about food all the time. So you can obsess over your diet, isolate yourself through this, despise conventional medicine, but you are in no way "winning" or being more "natural". I'm probably gonna like get yelled at for saying all this, but i'm just being honest.

As I've healed emotionally, my acne has healed. This is no coincidence. (And it is completely untrue that ssr's cause acne. If anything, they're unrelated.) My back acne is completely gone, and just a month ago I would touch my back and wince at the bumps. Sometimes emotional problems get so deep, we need a little help to get out. Whether this is therapy, family support, medication, all three or just the first and second, it doesn't really matter. My dad and three of his brothers and my grandma suffer with anxiety and depression, and many of them have taken medication when needed over the years, and most of them no longer do. Similar issues on my mom's side, so for me I am genetically hardwired for anxiety and depression. as a teen I dealt with it through perfectionism over my grades, looks and sports and didn't start to relax and enjoy life as much until taking a low dose antidepressant. trust me this is not the way I would have chosen things if I could have; nobody likes taking medication to be "better" and it can make you feel ashamed. But if it helps right now, and trying to stop taking it for nearly a year did not work, I accept "defeat".

I am hugely into most aspects of natural healing; I think all the amount of pills and otc meds will do nothing if you don't heal emotionally and address the roots of your problem and this is why I love therapy. I also eat very healthy food that I love, with my friends and family, exercise and don't consume drugs or alcohol. I also meditate and do yoga and read a lot of spiritual books. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hays is what i'm reading right now. But if I didn't take a few of those aforementioned steps, I would still be swimming in anxiety and mild depression, obsessing over my self image, and not even be able to address my deeper issues and accept and give love to my friends and family. The therapist I'm seeing now actually told me it's better for someone trying to heal in therapy to take ssri's (if they suit them) because anxiety and depression are so distracting that they can prevent deep healing, and they are just symptoms of emotional pain and low self esteen. I wish you the best of luck curing your acne....naturally.....but if you find dead ends over and over, know there are other options.

it's definitely not your toothpaste that's the issue. the only thing thats ever unclogged my pores before w/o manually extracting them myself is african black soap. it draws clogged pores and blackheads out and then it forms a small scab or the actual piece of clogged pore pushes out of the pore w/no scab. it is intense but effective. Good luck!! 2nd the no accutane thing.